Modified- The Complete Manipulated Series

by Harper North

  I backpedal into the tunnel as shots ring out and bullets strike stone behind us. We run into the dark mouth, Talen leading as Elias’s flashlight bobs and illuminates the dark tunnel and the ancient river we left. It continues to snake into the earth, a sick trickle leading into the dark.

  The shots stop, but sound carries in this cave.

  “Should we follow, Leader Cho?”

  Cho coughs. “Let them starve.”

  Dragging Lacy, who struggles to get on her own feet, Talen sends us a grave look. He shakes his head and nods down the path of the river. “I don’t know where we’re going, but we’re going. If we have to die, it won’t be by those so-called Naturals.”

  We continue down the river’s path, splashing water again. Cho could have lied, for all we know, and they could be following us right now.

  More gunshots ring out in the chamber. Our fighters are still back there. Their only chance of survival is to backtrack through the narrow opening and reach the river again.

  “Stop,” I say.

  Everyone does. Talen refuses to let go of Lacy.

  Our footsteps echo for a moment, then fade. No more voices follow.

  “The Naturals injected Lacy with sedatives while we weren’t looking,” Talen tells me. “We shouldn't have let them walk around unguarded. Then another one shot at Sky. That’s when Cho got away. Sky had to run. The rest ran down another tunnel. I tried to reach Lacy but couldn’t get close enough. The civilians ran down the tunnel Cho’s ops came out of.”

  “But how did you use your ability?” I ask.

  Talen grins. “I was only having problems at the distribution plant and the Monster’s Nest. I didn’t want Cho to think it was back, so I didn’t mention it.”

  Lacy looks up at Talen. “Real smart.”

  “And you came back how?” Elias asks.

  More gunshots ring out. Our fighters are still trying, but they’re at a disadvantage.

  “I looped around through another tunnel and came back through the river,” Talen explains. “The rocks. They’re giving off magnetic fields I can feel now that I'm away from the surface radiation.”

  I've forgotten the Aura ops can feel all magnetic fields, not just human ones.

  Elias and I glance at each other.

  “Can you find the settlement?” I ask.

  Talen nods. “It’s worth a shot.”

  CHAPTER 17

  “Think any of our guys made it out the back way?” Elias asks, splashing through water with every step.

  “We have to find out.” Thoughts of Sky plague me. He might have taken a bullet and bled out later. I wave everyone back out to the river to check for escaping survivors. I won’t let another dictator rise.

  Footfalls and the sound of dripping water fill the catacombs around us, echoing and impossible to trace. Elias’s flashlight shows us the way against the current. My chest tenses when a black-clad EHC op staggers out of a tunnel with four of the prisoners standing behind him, guns ready. They’ve backtracked. He squints as Elias shines the light in his face. Gone is the superior EHC expression. We’re all rats now. Equals.

  “We thought you were dead,” he says.

  I strain to look behind them. “Are there only five left?”

  “This is it,” a female prisoner says.

  I square my shoulders. “It’s Cho. He betrayed us. Again.”

  The op grits his teeth and curses under his breath.

  “I’ll kill that bastard.” Lacy still sounds groggy, but anger now stabs through her words. With her Century class mod, she’s able to cast off the sedative quickly. “Then we find the others and the settlement.”

  Talen clears his throat.

  “One thing at a time.” Elias brushes past me. “We don’t take that narrow passage back to Cho's chamber. We’ll use the back way Talen took.”

  “Cho will be ready,” I tell him.

  Elias swallows thickly. “I know he will.”

  He leads with his gun out, clicking off the flashlight. Darkness falls over us, leaving us with little more than a faint breeze. Talen whispers something to Lacy as feet splash through water. Familiar smells and sounds pop around us. It smells like the caves around the mines. Lacy and I know this terrain. Cho doesn’t.

  I turn to Lacy. “You up for this?”

  “Yeah,” she says, finally sober. “I'm trying to learn how to feel things out now that the surface radiation isn't there all the time. Things are quieter down here, so I can sense more details.”

  “We need it,” Elias says, voice shaking. “I can barely see anything.”

  Lacy seizes my arm and leads the way. As we walk, I calculate. We took a minute to run back to our fighters. Walking to the back tunnel should take three. I count the seconds, too.

  Then the slight breeze changes direction, blowing from my left.

  “We’re here,” Lacy whispers. “I can sense Cho's soldiers now. That means we're at the tunnel.”

  “Good to know,” Elias whispers back, his tone tainted with sarcasm.

  In the darkness, Lacy pauses beside me. I can only hear her breathing.

  Then Lacy steps forward.

  Men scream and gag. Bodies thump to the ground. Boots scrape the floor, but no gunshots ring out. Sounds of agony fill the tunnel and echo off the walls like we’re in an underworld of pain.

  At last, silence falls.

  But then a horrific whine fills the air.

  A comm crackles to life. “Enjoy your stay underground,” Cho’s voice shouts from the void. “It won’t last too much longer, if you’re lucky.”

  Horror strikes me, making my heart race and my muscles tense.

  “Back!” Elias shouts.

  I backpedal into someone and we all stagger back as the whining increases. An explosion shakes the tunnel, lighting everything for a second in yellow, gray, and brown. A deafening bang snaps through my eardrums and leaves a ringing in its place as the light fades. Dust flies everywhere.

  Before I can cough the dust from my lungs, another sound fills the air.

  Cracking.

  “Cave-in!” Talen shouts.

  Feet shuffle and I run into someone on the way back down the tunnel. The cracking turns to crumbling as vibrations run through the floor. Rocks and boulders fall behind us, blocking our way to Cho.

  The sound quiets and a few pebbles skitter across the stone. The breeze stops, leaving the air stagnant and thick. Lacy coughs. “It's a good thing we just shot Rodriguez in the leg, then.”

  I rub my forehead. Dust and grit comes off on my hand, and I wipe it on my pants.

  Elias clicks on his flashlight and I squint. The world turns orange as the glow tries to penetrate my eyelids.

  “It’s blocked,” Elias says after a moment.

  I open my eyes. As they adjust, I see he’s right. Slabs of rock, broken stalactites, and boulders fill the tunnel ahead.

  “You said there was another way around?” I ask Talen.

  He nods as he wraps an arm around Lacy's waist.

  Before we backtrack, I cup some of the river water in my hands and drink. It’s crisp, cold, and tastes pure. The others do the same.

  “Up,” Elias orders, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

  Elias waves Talen and Lacy down the tunnel ahead. He keeps the flashlight on. We have another thing over Cho—modified speed. Plus, he can’t sacrifice all his rebels.

  “This way.” Talen squeezes between two stalactites. I wouldn’t have noticed the opening myself. Maybe we won’t have to starve to death down here.

  Talen enters a narrow opening ahead of us, Lacy right behind him. More cold stone presses against me, but at least we don’t have to slide through on our stomachs. No one speaks, and the five fighters behind us have to raise their guns over their heads to make it through. At last the cave opens, and Talen bursts into a narrow tunnel. Lacy and I follow.

  “This is the way,” Talen says with certainty. “Emma and the others ran down this way when the Naturals opened fire.
They ran past this stalactite.”

  “With Sky?” I ask.

  “Yes. With Sky.”

  “And I sense more people,” Lacy adds, joining Talen in the lead.

  We’re close. The tunnel slopes downward. Talen pauses at another junction before taking the one to the right. “Emma and the others came down one of these tunnels. I’m not sure which one, since I broke away from them.”

  “Just do your best,” I say.

  Talen takes a tunnel on the left, then waves us into one on the right. We squeeze through until we emerge in a wide corridor that goes in both directions. Another breeze wraps around my skin, which tells me this tunnel leads somewhere.

  Without hesitating, Talen waves us to the right. We follow, and this time the opening continues downward. The temperature rises as we go deeper into the earth. The sound of rushing water follows, though it’s distant. There’s a larger river down here, and if anyone built a big settlement nearby in the past, they’d need an energy and water source.

  “I need more light,” Talen says. “The fields feel different up here.”

  Elias raises his flashlight. No sounds but our footfalls echo in the chamber, which is wide enough to fit small hovers. At last, something flat and shiny emerges from the dark.

  A wall.

  “Stop,” Elias orders.

  Everyone halts, and I scan the scene in front of us. A large metal wall with a large set of bay doors in the center looms twenty feet tall. A burned-out light hangs in a cage over the doors. If he's right, one of these places is Cho's new home.

  I assume the doors are locked to keep out the rats.

  I walk up to the entrance and try to hook my fingers between the doors, but the gap wouldn’t fit a piece of paper. I kick, but the doors are so thick they don’t even reverberate.

  “Fin, we’re not getting in that way,” Elias says.

  I face him, and he shakes his head with the most dejected expression I’ve ever seen on his face.

  “There has to be another way,” I urge. “Don’t give up yet.”

  Talen looks around. “I feel a big wall that expands farther than this.”

  Terror grips my heart as I think of the outcome. I sink into a squat to calculate—and listen. “But the water?” I say. “The builders didn’t block off the river. They couldn’t have. The place needed water and a way to power itself. If we can find where the river enters, we might be able to ride it in.”

  I look to Lacy. “You take the fighters and find Emma.” I turn my attention to Talen. “You and I are finding a way into this place.”

  * * * * *

  “If we find the river, we’re likely to dive in, and then what? Get sucked into an airless tunnel?” Elias asks from behind as Talen leads us through narrower and narrower openings. We slide through parts of the cave that may have never seen human feet or hands. Some openings are just fissures, maybe a result of the recent quakes.

  “Elias, this isn’t like you,” I say.

  Elias doesn’t answer. I know he’s just tired and beaten down.

  “Fin’s right,” Talen agrees. “We have to risk it.”

  My stomach rumbles. I swallow, trying to ignore it. The thought of never eating again fills me with panic. We had barely enough in the mines, but this is different. If we’re lucky, we might find some eyeless lizards or colorless bugs.

  The sound of water increases, then fades, then rises again. The fissure opens and I push myself into a small chamber. At last, Talen’s foot splashes into some water ahead.

  He stops and I bump into him. “Is this it?”

  “I believe so,” he replies.

  The comm on Elias’s belt crackles and Emma’s voice comes through. “Sorry I didn't get back to you right away. We didn't dare respond after Cho turned on us. We feared he'd find us, but Lacy did instea—” Her voice, full of relief, cuts out at the end. The signal's still not good. The radio crackles for a full minute. “Some of the civilians might have trouble swimming.”

  “Tell them starving is worse,” Elias says into the comm, then clicks it off.

  I push past Talen and find myself on a tiny shore of pebbles. A wide river gurgles and fills the air with its fresh, sharp scent. Light dances on the walls. I can see through to the rocks on the bottom, so it’s clean. The water runs into a tunnel, leaving just a foot of clearance. Elias shines his flashlight at the opening, but only a few feet inside lurks darkness. His question about drowning comes back to me, but I push it away.

  “Any of the agents have rope? If I go first and tie a line on the other side, everyone else can follow it.”

  “I believe the EHC ops will have a zip line,” Talen says. “They’re standard issue.”

  “Good. If we have one, I’ll hook it to something if I reach a secure spot. Then the rest of you will know it’s safe to follow.”

  “Fin, don’t do this,” Elias says. “Let me.”

  I laugh. “Are you kidding me? I’ve been using ropes to scale rockfaces since I was four. I got this. I’ll be able to hold my breath long enough and climb along the ceiling.”

  Elias presses his lips together. “You’ll need backup.”

  I know he’s right. We miners never performed jobs on our own. It was always in teams. It was too dangerous any other way. But Lacy will need to stay with Talen to protect the others.

  “We go through together. Me and you. This is our responsibility.” Elias holds out his hand. “Deal?”

  I swallow and grasp his hand. “Deal.”

  CHAPTER 18

  NUMBNESS FILLS MY body as I wait for Sky and the others to get back. At last, Lacy leads them through the fissure and into our small chamber. My heart races when I see him, holding Cia’s hand while their mother emerges from the dark behind them. Even after this short time away, Cia looks older than her eleven years. War changes everyone, including the kids.

  Sky meets my gaze with sad, worried eyes. He finds a spot against the wall and gestures for his family to sit.

  I fan myself as bodies crowd into the small space and onto the shore of the river, making the temperature rise. Emma kneels and scoops water out of the river, drinking, and tells the thirty or so civilians now packing the small chamber to do the same. The water continues to rush as if being pushed by a massive pump.

  I return my attention to Sky, but he still doesn’t look at me. Apparently, he’s done with that.

  Good. It makes the thought of what I’m going to do next bearable.

  “She’s offered to run the line.” Talen explains my plan to a surviving op. “And being smaller than you with a Noble class mod, she should.”

  “I’m going, too,” Elias reminds him.

  The thought of having Elias there renews my confidence, and I straighten my slumped shoulders.

  The op digs through his pack and produces a line and a set of hooks. “They self-adhere to any hard surface,” he explains.

  I look back at the civilians. Sky has vanished. If he were here, I’d be able to see him, since several people have flashlights illuminating the cave.

  “Make sure to give them the beacon LEDs,” Reinhart says to the op.

  Until now, I had forgotten about him. He stands with the others, dust covering his black uniform. The smugness is gone, but now he glares at me. I can’t blame him. I made this happen.

  Behind him, Emma stands with reddened eyes. It’s obvious she’s fighting to hold her emotions back. I’m sure Reinhart’s been on her case about smuggling Cho out of the bunker.

  I nod at them and turn away.

  “Fin and Elias will plant the beacon lights at every air pocket inside the tunnel, if part of it goes underwater.” Reinhart steps toward us, his voice echoing off the walls of the chamber. “If they reach the other side before the line runs out, they will plant it. The sensor on our side will let us know it’s safe to follow it.”

  Elias handles a long, rolled-up line with two small hooks. He hands me one end. The op gives him a handful of flattened spheres that look like big
plastic buttons. None are on, so I assume the beacons will activate once stuck on something.

  “Do you have a waterproof flashlight?” I ask the op.

  He tosses me one from his bag. “Military grade.”

  Holding my end of the line—there must be enough of this plastic-like material to stretch a thousand feet—I walk to the shore beside Elias. Removing my shoes, I set them to the side and step into the cool water with my bare feet. It’s not as cold as I expect.

  I look behind me and my heart jumps. Sky’s holding the other end of the line. “See you over there, Fin.”

  I bite the inside of my cheek and try to drive away my persistent feelings for him. I gulp and sink in up to my waist, then my neck. “See you.” I don’t look back. I can’t.

  Elias trudges behind me. “I’ll hold the light and plant the beacons. You focus on pulling the line.” His voice forces me back to the task at hand.

  “Got it.” But terror fills my chest. I take three deep breaths, filling my blood with as much oxygen as I can. Kicking myself off, I swim into the tunnel.

  Only Elias’s flashlight guides the way as rock brushes the top of my head and water laps at my chin. I maneuver through the water with grace, guiding myself with a palm against the smooth cave wall. Maybe this won’t be so bad.

  But then the smooth stone pushes my face underwater.

  Panic swirls in my chest. There was no time for another breath. Even without a strong current, the water pushes me forward. It’s impossible to resist.

  Faint light dances around me. Pebbles spread out below. I kick forward, gaining speed and working with the water. I try to look up, but my neck won’t crane that far.

  My lungs begin to burn.

  Behind me, Elias gurgles. I kick harder, giving him room. The sounds of the flowing water pours into my ears, filling my head. Line in hand, I reach up and feel just stone, flat stone, curved stone—no air. The fire in my chest goes from embers to a hungry flame. I count to ten. Then twenty. I have to take a breath—

  Now!

  Suddenly, I break from my watery prison and suck in the most precious breaths of air I’ve ever taken. It fills my lungs, banishing the ringing in my ears. A light beam dances below and rises right before Elias surfaces in the small pocket. Water runs down his face as he blinks and manages a smile.